Project Plan Mor Nutro Powder

Preface

Two years ago the client, Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) have started a project called “Moringa Project for Livelihood Diversification, Nutritional Enhancement and Sustainable Land Use” sponsored by USAID’s “Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Horticulture”. In May 2014 Tim van Teeffelen did a study on the development of a concept involving sustainable food production methods at KITA.

From November 2014 until January 2015 two students of the TU Delft, in cooperation with two UCTA students, University Kumasi institute of Tropical Agriculture, did a follow up study on the subject. Both their reports will be used as background information. This November two new students of the TU Delft, Nena Roes and Nienke Zweers, and two new students from UCTA Charlotte Botwey and Gideon Yaw will continue the project, implementing their research.

Executive Summary

This project plan reports on the establishment of a Moringa powder business at the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ghana.

The area this project plan concerns is the Ashanti-region, more specific the Ejisu Juaben district. Malnutrition is a big problem in this area, just like in the rest of Ghana. This is not only due to the lack of resources to purchase healthy nutrients, but also because of the lack of knowledge about the importance of a well balanced diet.

‘Mor Nutro’ is a powder produced from the leaves of the Moringa tree. Because of its high nutritional value, it is a product that can be used in order to decrease the amount of malnutrition cases. Last year, Melanie Schuurman and Bart Gijsberts have continued the project that Tim van Teeffelen started the year before. This year Nienke Zweers and Nena Roes will travel to Ghana in order to pick up the project where the TU Delft students of last year have ended.

In order to establish a sustainable Moringa farm at the campus of KITA, the project can be divided into two parts: the educational part and the trade part. These different components of the projects each have their own objectives that need to be reached.

The educational part of the project consists of the education about the importance of a well balanced diet, vitamins, proteins, minerals, and the way Mor Nutro Powder can contribute to this. The target group of these educational moments are private schools that feed their own students, care centres and nursing mothers.

Besides these informative sessions, also 180 farmers will be trained in the cultivation of Moringa and the marketing around Mor Nutro Powder. The students will participate in these trainings and evaluate the training programme afterwards.

The trade part of the project consists of the design and creation of a walk-in solar dryer and a milling and packaging centre at the campus of KITA. Both will contribute to the optimization of the production process. This is a very important aspect, because at the moment the capacity at KITA isn’t sufficient. Because of the fact that without a well functioning production area at KITA the possible question for Mor Nutro powder that can be created by education can’t be answered, the trade part will be the main objective of the project to be fulfilled.

A big part of the project is to create legitimacy. At the moment Moringa is not accepted as a medication to prevent or cure malnutrition. By the establishment of a Moringa farm at KITA, we want to inspire other institutes in Ghana in order to make Moringa widely available in Ghana.
Introduction

In Ghana, malnutrition is a big problem. In this area of Africa, there has been estimated that 42% of all children under the age of five suffer from vitamin A-deficiency, which can cause serious complications (Larty, 2009). Malnutrition hereby is the cause of 40% of all deaths among children (Unicef, 2008). Besides this, pregnant women as well often are victims of malnutrition in Ghana.

By adding vitamins and proteins to the daily diet of this group of people, the malnutrition problem can be reduced significantly. One of these vitamin and protein rich products that can be used for the improvement of feeding patterns is Mor Nutro Powder, which is made from the leaves of Moringa trees.

This report sets out an overall project plan for the Mor Nutro Powder business at the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

First we will give a short introduction of the executive team of the project. After this, the project context will give a description of the fundaments the project is based on. Then, a the problem analysis points out what problems the establishment of a Mor Nutro business addresses. A full describption of the project will be given after this.

The objectives that the project contains will be discussed in the chapter about the scope. Here, also the objectives that we have decided that are not reachable or do not have priority are mentioned. How the objectives that have been put in scope will be reached is described in the following chapter, “approach of the objectives”. The different stakeholders that are connected to the project then can be found in the following chapter “stakeholders”.

In order to increase the sustainability of the project, a business model canvas will be created. This business model can be found in the chapter “Entrepreneurial context”.

Because of the fact that during the project there has to be dealt with cultural differences, there are a lot risks that have to be taken into account. The chapter risk managent describes these risks, the way we will deal with them and the different scenarios that can occur during our stay in Ghana. Hereafter follows the chapter about the finances and planning of the project.

Finally, the continuation of the project will be analysed.
Problem Analysis

The Mor Nutro Project effects two problems that live in Ghana. These are malnutrition and poverty.

Malnutrition in the Ashanti region

In Ghana, malnutrition is a big problem, especially among young children and women. Malnutrition in this report is defined as the condition of “undernutrition”, which doesn’t only indicate the cases where people don’t have enough food, but also covers the cases where people do have enough food, but where the food isn’t high in nutritional values which causes that these people lack of some important nutrients. Research has shown that malnutrition is the cause of 40% of all deaths among children (Unicef, 2008). There has been estimated that 42% of all Ghanaian children under the age of five, suffers from vitamin A-deficiency (Larty, 2009).Vitamin A is an important nutrient for the immune function, eye health, vision and growth (Rice, Keith, West & Black, 2004). There have been many initiatives that attempted to reduce the malnutrition rates, such als school lunch programs, nutrition education, introducing exotic vegetables and campaigns where children were given the necessary dose of vitamin A in supplements (Fuglie, 2001). None of these initiatives have shown a significant improvement so far. One of the reasons these methods aren’t functioning optimal, is because of the fact the solutions are from outside, sometimes even from abroad and there often has to be personnel in order to lead the approaches in the right direction.

Poverty in the Ashanti region

The percentage of the rural population below the poverty line in Ghana describes 31,4% (Buor, 2004). For this group of people, things like healthcare utilization are very difficult. In the Ashanti region, there is less poverty than in Northern Ghana, but the incidence of poverty within te district varies a lot.

(StatsGhana, 2015)

The figure shows that the number of poor people in the Ejisu Juaben district is 20000 to 29999. For Ghanaian perspectives this is an average number, but still it demonstrates there is a lot of poverty in this area.
Impact Flowchart

We divided the Mor Nutro project in two major goals covering the objectives of this project. These goals are to improve the social and economic impact of the project. Dividing the main goals into different layers will illustrate the importance of the objectives. The middle section of the chart illustrates the explicit targets to be reached. At the bottom are the four activities in grey, which merge the targets into three bite-size areas in will we execute the project.
Previous Projects
Previous Projects

Previously two projects have been done concerning Moringa at KITA. ‘Mor Nutro’ is de name of the concept Tim van Teeffelen has developed during his sixteen weeks internship at KITA. He defines his project concept as follows: ‘a concept involving a food fortifying powder produced by local farmers and sold to educated local schools to increase nutritional intake’. By accomplishment of the study of his concept, he has been done a lot of research on the Moringa production process. The final result is an innovative programme that should be implemented in the Ashanti region. (Teeffelen,T.2014).

In November last year a second group of students participated in the Mor Nutro Powder project and left us with some useful recommendations:
- Focusing on private schools as they are in a feeding program which will allow us to distribute Moringa to the children more widespread.
- The medical directors at care centres are very interested in the moringa project at KITA, but not to implement it at their own hospital. This problem may be caused by the refusal of herbal drugs. Focus on schools first as it is easier to implement the powder here. Make appointment after educating to talk about powder supply.
- Show Mor Nutro products and educate twice a year at St. Lucas hospital.
- They also advise us to do follow ups on the visited places to see how they have implemented the new knowledge they were provided with. (Gijsberts, B. & Schuurman, M., 2015)
Starting position

KITA has been wanting to purchase a mechanical grinder for the grinding process to reduce costs on labour time. Through contact with Samuel Tayki we how found out that as of now the milling and packaging center is yet to be designed and constructed from start to finish.Therefore our objective is to start from the scratch including recommendations on the type of equipment needed for the processing of the powder to be bought and installed. Last year they found that at KITA drying racks, sifters, and other equipment to process the Moringa is already available.

In march 2015 an article on the KITA wordpress states “We have now started our Moringa Training Project, sponsored by USAID’s “Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Horticulture”. And under the header progress they mention “So far we have gathered and bought 80% of the materials we will need, we’ve visited 4 communities, we’ve designed 80% of the training, and we’ve registered 35 participants. This is just the beginning!” After following up on this article with Christy Cook we discovered they had not yet started the actual training, but will be start the training once we arrive and the project seems to have stagnated since the departure of the previous TUDelft students. (Cook,C. 2015).
Project Description

The problems that are addressed during the problem analysis can be reached from two sides. These are education and trade, which form the main instruments of the project.
Project Description

The Mor Nutro Powder project is a follow up of the work of two other TU Delft students. Last year, the students focused on the recruitments of farmers who would be willing to grow Moringa trees and supply the leaves to KITA and they put a lot of time in educating students and nursing mothers at schools and care centres.

Since this year, 180 (namely) woman will be in training at KITA. They are being educated about ways to cultivate Moringa and also the marketing around the Moringa business. This years project focuses on the training of these women and the design of the production part of the Mo Nutro Powder business. This production part contains the design of a central milling and packaging centre and the design of a walk-in solar dryer.

Of course, also the educational part of the project, where students and other people from the target group will be educated about the importance of a well balanced diet and the way Mor Nutro Powder can contribute to this, will be continued as well.

Objectives Analysis

The problems that are addressed during the problem analysis can be reached from two sides. These are education and trade, which form the main instruments of the project.

Education

By educating children, students, teachers, care professionals and nursing mothers about the importance of a well-balanced feeding pattern, vitamins and the value of Mor Nutro, people get to think about their own feeding pattern and the importance of possible improvement. By educating farmersabout the benefits of growing and selling moringa and setting up a way of training them, there would be enough farmers that plant tress and supply these to KITA so moringa would be more widely available.Here the problem in malnutrition and the main problem owner are Ghana citizens.

The main question in this sub goal then is:How can the knowledge and awareness about an optimal feeding pattern, vitamins and the advantages of Mor Nutro convince schools and hospitals to use Mor Nutro Powder in their meals and ensure that they purchase the powder from KITA?

Trade
KITA is contributing to the possibility for locals to buy Mor Nutro by taking in an intermediating position between farmers and purchasers. In order to provide enough Mor Nutro Powder, there are several aspects that need to be arranged:
- Enough farmers that plant Moringa trees and supply the leaves to KITA (supply).
- A milling and packaging centre at KITA with a capacity that is sufficient (process).
- Enough people/institutions/companies that are interested and want to buy the produced Mor Nutro Powder (demand).
At this moment none of the above is at a preferred level yet. So the problem is KITA is starting to get their own moringa business running, but to get a sustainable business, demand, supply and capacity of the business should increase. The main problem at this moment, is that there can’t be bought any Moringa from people until there is a milling machine. This is because the capacity at KITA isn’t big enough. The main problem owner here is KITA.

The main question in this sub goal:

How can the capacity of the milling and packaging centre at KITA be increased (on financial and logistic aspect) and the amount of customers so that the trained farmers can work for KITA?
Mission Statement
- Optimizing the production process of Moringa powder
- Creating Awareness about malnutrition in the Ashanti region
- Increasing the Nutrient intake amongst children and pregnant women in the Ashanti region
The mission of our project is to increase the income for the local farmers by involving them into the optimized production process of Moringa powder, while increasing intake of nutrients by children and pregnant women and creating awareness of the benefits of Moringa powder.

Mission statement:

“Improving the feeding pattern of Ghana citizens by education about the importance of a well-balanced diet and introduction of Mor Nutro Powder.”
Scope

The scope of the project determines what does and what does not fit within the project. This is dependable on the available time, money and co-operation between all stakeholders. The scope statement also provides the project team with guidelines concerning whether to adjust to change request during the project or whether to stick with the initial project plan because these new requirements fall out of the scope of the project.
Product scope

The main product of this project is Mor Nutro Powder. There are other products that can be made of the leaves of the Moringa tree, like shampoo, soap and oil. These products are left out of the scope.

Project Scope

Project requirements

The different institutes that are involved with the projects put emphasis on different objectives for the project.

What is in? The objectives

After taken all the project requirements into account, we came to the conclusion that too achieve all given objectives, three months is too short a time. Therefore a number of requirements have been selected and these form the objectives of this project. The objectives will contribute to improvement concerning the two main problems discussed in chapter one.

The main focus will be on the trade part of the project. This, because without a well functioning milling and packaging centre at KITA, the Moringa that the trained farmers produce can’t be processed and schools and hospitals cant be supplies with Mor Nutro Powder. Therefore education will not be useful until there is a milling machine. The selected objectives have been categorized as trade related objectives and education related objectives.

Trade
- Draft designing a central milling and packaging center at KITA.
- Draft designing a central walk in solar dryer at KITA.
- Making a business model for the Moringa Business at KITA.
- Development of a marketing plan and implementation of this plan by the marketing of Mor Nutro to senior high schools who feed their students.
Education

Monitoring (possibly participating) and evaluation of the training of 180 farmers in making innovative products from Moringa.

Outlining a summary of recommendations to the various stakeholders (KITA, farmers, private sector, public sector, etc.) for the follow-up of the process

What is out?

These requirements are not left out completely, but are not being given priority. Of every requirement, there will be explaned why there is not being given priority.
- Developing ideas on how to make the Mor Nutro production process more efficient, including harvesting, drying, milling, handling, packaging, based on the outcomes of the 2014-2015 internship.
- The reason for this requirement to have less priority, is because it is important to first have the Moringa business running, and after this optimize the process.
- Draw up a report detailing the process of adding value to the Moringa products as will be taught to the farmers including a proposed business model with which the families will market their product.
- Of course this needs to be done, and when we have enough time we will, but in order to detail the process of adding value to the Moringa products, there first have to be Moringa products in production. This is the first step, training the farmers and teaching them how to make the products and how to sell them. After this we can focus on the previous requirement.
Furthermore, creating a solar dryer ánd a milling and packaging center in three months, is not very realistic. Therefore, both will be examined, but the chance that both will be created is very small.
Approach of the Objectives

How will the described objectives be reached?
Milling and packaging centre

In order to set up a sustainable Moringa business at KITA, we need to close the described gap between supply, processing and demand. In order to create a capacity at KITA that will live up to the production needs in the future, we will focus on the construction of the processing center.

Both heat sealing and grinding equipment will be bought as well as tools and equipment for installation. When the finances allow so, the building of the shed where the milling and packaging center will be allocated, should be outsourced. After the build of milling and packaging center the equipment will be installed and made ready for use.
- The machine that Tim van Teeffelen gave tot KITA and the Mortar & Pestle, are both inefficient materials to grind the dried Moringa leaves with. This, because the machine can only mill a small amount at the time and can’t be used for too long at one time. The mortar and pestle have the disadvantage that never the whole amount of leaves is crushed fine enough to go through the sieve, so there is a big residue. To increase their capacity, KITA has to buy a new, bigger milling machine. During the internship, 180 farmers are being trained. Not all of them will produce Moringa and provide it to KITA, but when a certain number of farmers will be convinced to do so, there isn’t enough capacity.
- For a new milling machine, research has to be done for the best machine and the costs of this machine. Not only the purchase costs, but also the transport costs, installation costs, etc.
- For the milling machine again we will do observations at surrounding initiatives and take a look at how they process the Moringa Leaves.
Business Model Moringa Powder KITA

Before we arrive in Ghana, we will start by draft designing a business model for the Mor Nutro Powder and will adjust, add on and re-write it during our internship in order to leave a finished and suitable business plan behind. In the business plan we will aim for continuous growth
- Using the findings of the research done last year and based on the interest schools and hospitals have this year, we will try to define the demand in Moringa.
- Based on the demand calculations will be done in order to estimate the profit that KITA may be able to make off the Moringa business.
- A small research will be done in using not only the leaves of the Moringa tree to see if there are any missed opportunities.
Walk-in solar dryer
- Last year the TUDelft students made a small solar dryer for the Moringa leaves. This year we will improve on their design.
- Observations will be made at existing solar dryers.
- Inventory will be made of the materials we will have at our disposal.
- A small research will be conducted in what effect the shape and size of the solar dryer have on the drying process and possibly change the solar dryer based on that outcome.
- To optimize the drying of the Moringa leaves we decided we will design and build a walk-in solar dryer to increase the capacity of the leaves that can de dried at once. The design of this solar dryer will be based on the observations that will be made at GPI, that already have a similar walk-in solar dryer.
- A draft design will be made of the solar dryer, we set out to design 3 possible concepts.
- Concept designs we be discussed with experts and final concept will be chosen
- A building plan will be drawn including a final list of materials and tools needed which will be bought when not available.
- As discussed before, there will be designed a milling and packaging centre where this milling machine will be located.
Training of Farmers (Evaluation)
- We will participate in a few sessions in which the women will be trained in the growing of Moringa
- We will interview the women who have participated in the training sessions and plan to do a follow-up after the 3 months and see how they have set their training in practice.
- Make a short list of findings and recommendations about the trainings.
Education and Marketing

The following institutes are projects for education and marketing:
- Private schools (feed students themselves)
- Senior High schools
- Hospitals/care centres
Kwamo Primary and St. Louise Secondary are schools that have shown interest in Mo Nutro Powder in the past. Therefore, during this project we also will visit these schools and we will try to convince them in using Mo Nutro Powder in their meals.
- We will redesign and optimize de educational material using feedback from last years students.
- Print it out in Holland and bring it to Ghana.
- Make a list of schools and care centres in the area.
- It would be very helpful to visit care centre days in the neighbourhood. This way there are a lot of people from the target group reached at once. a
- Make appointments to visit the schools and centres.
- Teach them about the benefits of Moringa.
We will take an example dish or drink with us to these education moments, so that people can see how the Mor Nutro powder can be used.
Stakeholders
The stakeholders that can be identified are:

Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture

KITA is the middleman between the farmers who produce the Moringa trees and In the report of last year is mentioned KITA is the middle man between farmers and companies as customers. This middle-man role consists of:
- Providing the farmers with education about the growing of the trees.
- Buying the undried Moringa leaves from the farmers
- Processing the leaves into powder
- Package the powder and prepare for transportation
- Selling and distributing of the powder by local drivers
KITA can be seen as the main entrepreneur concerning the Mor Nutro project from our point of view. During the internship we depend on the decisions KITA makes on finance and the final design of objects.

Other Moringa powder producing companies

The Moringa business in Ghana already has a great market. Gianni’s and GPI are Moringa businesses that are doing well in the area of Kumasi. A lot can be learned from the other Moringa businesses in the neighbourhood. Therefore, the other Moringa businesses are not so much competitors, but more like examples on how things could be arranged.

Executors of the project

These are the involved people at KITA.

George Ansah, Franklin Takyi are there for technical direction.

Padmore Adu Antwi is there for Research direction. He is also the dissertation supervisor for the Ghana students.

Bernard Walker is there for the Business model canvas.

Samuel Owusutakyi is there for overall guidance.

Christy Cook is coordinator of international relations.

Finally, there are the executing students, from TU Delft as well as from KITA. This group changes over time, so it is important to pass through the knowledge as good as possible.

Target group for education

These are the people whose current feeding pattern doesn’t fit up to a healthy one because of the lack of knowledge of essential vitamins and minerals. By making this group of people aware about the danger of a feeding pattern with a lack of vitamins, they can take this with them for the rest of their lives and possibly being able to identify illness as a course of a bad feeding pattern.

Responsible authorities of the target group for education

The tutors of the target group are schools, nursing mothers and care centres. The decisions these authorities make, directly affect the feeding pattern of the target group. Therefore it is important to not only educate the target group, but also to convince the authorities of the importance of a well balanced diet, so that they implement this (for example by using Moringa in every meal at the school kitchen).

Farmers

Farmers are very important participants for the sustainability of the Moringa business. Farmers currently have their own crops on their land, which bring their own habits and traditions with them. To convince farmers of replacing these crops with moringa or to expand their farm in order to produce Moringa, a lot is needed. How can KITA assure them a solid income? What are the advantages of changing their current crops into moringa? Nothing can be promised to the farmers until there is a solid milling and packaging centre at KITA.

The 180 people that will follow the training at KITA, aren’t farmers. For this group mainly women were the target group, and they can be from any profession. The do not have their own land to product Moringa, which means recruiting farmers is still a goal that has to be reached in order to create a Moringa business.

Relation between stakeholders

KITA needs cooperation from farmers and the responsible authorities of the target group for education. The tutors of the target group for education on their part need cooperation from the target group for education before they can implement a new feeding programme at the school/hospital. The executors need to convince farmers and the target group to cooperate, but before they can be promised anything, KITA should increase the capacity of the milling and packaging centre. The TU Delft students will try to do some fundraising, but in the end this is KITA’s responsibility.
Entrepreneurial context

A part of the assignment given by KITA, is the creation of a business model for the Mor Nutro Powder business. We did so by using a business model canvas, over the time of a year. The complete BMC can be found in Appendix A.

KITA’s goal is to develop a sustainable Moringa business at their University campus, in order to provide a stable income for many farmers while decreasing malnutrition. This business model has been designed for the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture and their Mor Nutro Powder business to reach these goals most efficiently.

KITA’s customers are described to often be at the base of the pyramid. This makes it a challenge to convince people to spend extra money on their food, in order to increase their health. This requires a clear educational programme, but also trust is from great importance.

Trust, again is very important in case of the farmers, They need to be able to trust KITA in order to be able to make the decision to their abandon their current crops and start growing Moringa.

This trust can only be reached through the long-term relationship and the reputation and notoriety of Moringa Powder. When this trust has been established, the business can be taken to the next level.

There will be a focus on schools and care centres for the sale of Mor Nutro powder, in order to fight malnutrition, but eventually a broader market can be targeted. In order to reach a bigger market for Mor Nutro powder, the product has to be refined and the capacity at KITA has to be big enough. This means, that the key resources like the milling machine and walk-in solardryer have to function properly and the key activities, such as the training of the farmers and the educational part of the project, have to be fulfilled. It’s only after these objectives are satisfied, value has been added to the business and an attractive product with a respectable price can be launched on a broader market.

Because the Mor Nutro business is at a very early stadium, it is difficult to specify the different cost and quantify the revenue streams at this point in time. Before this can be done, properly, a lot more research on how the sales will be conducted and how the production process will be arranged needs to be done.

For this same reason, it is very important to evaluate the business model at the end of the project and adapt it to the new knowledge we acquire. As such there could be possibly important aspects that have now been left out of scope completely, that turn out to be vital to the process. These would need to be added to the model, in order to provide the farmers, the women with an honest and efficient view of what being part of KITA’s Mor Nutro business will entail.

The Business Model Canvas is an efficient way of showing how to arrange the Mor Nutro Powder business during these first steps. There are a lot of paths that KITA can choose to go during the set up phase of the business, and a lot of choices to make, which all can be adjusted in the business model. Eventually, it is recommendable to use this business model as a pilot one, and together with all the stakeholders at KITA come up with an improved version at the end of the project, which is why we will keep a flexible attitude at all times.

“A growing number of initiatives all over the globe seem to be defying the obstacles that have prevented businesses from providing services to the poor. Collectively, those initiatives constitute a phenomenon that has been dubbed ‘social entrepreneurship’. It combines the resourcefulness of traditional entrepreneurship with a mission to change society”
(Seelos & Mair, 2004)

As Bart and Melanie quoted Seelos and Mair last year, we set out to really dive into the entrepreneurial side of the project during our internship. Where previously the research side of the project was conducted we will set out to create incentive for a permanent change and develop not only the economic but also the social environment. Changing the monotonous diets of the local people will increase mortality rate and enhance health overall. Diminishing the lack of awareness about malnutrition and the advantages of Moringa is the only way of creating a sustainable market for our product.

The partnerships with local women in the training creates the possibility of steady employment in the long term and when the Moringa business takes off, a chance to become entrepreneurs themselves.
Risk Management

Projects that take place in developing countries and include intercultural communication are highly sensitive for external factors. There is a lot of risk that comes with the project. This may lead to other outcomes of the project than was expected. We will discuss the risks in this chapter, and develop scenarios with alternative manners of action that can be implemented when specific cases occur during the project.

General risks

Cultural differences

A very interesting and exiting part of the project, is that we will be working with people from different cultures together on the project. This also brings a lot of risks. The Ghanaian students and other Ghanaian participants will have a different approach on the project than we will. For example, the perception of time is very different in Ghana then it is in Holland. We should take this into account when we make our planning. The communication also differs a lot; it is important to first get to know potential business partners a little bit, and have a laugh with them, and after this start negotiations.

Scope too broad

The project contains a lot of objectives that we want to reach. There is a chance that too many objectives have been put in the scope. When this is the case, we should shift our focus from all objectives, to only one part of the project. We have to stay alert on this aspects as we already know we are taken a lot on out plate.

Project Scenarios

There are two big external factors that will determine the outcome of the project and the way we will have to handle during the project. These are:

I. The efficiency of the production process

II. Cooperation of farmers and target group for education

In all scenario’s it is important that there is an evaluation of the training programme and possible improvements of this programme.

1. Need of Capacity

This is the scenario where the efficiency of the productionprocess isn’t optimal. For example because there can’t be purchased a new milling machine because of financial problems, but farmers, schools and hospitals are willing to buy Mor Nutro Powder. Here, there will be Moringa supplied by farmers and there will be question for the Mor Nutro Powder by the schools. The missing aspect here, is the process capacity at KITA because of the missing milling machine.

What can be done in this scenario?

In this scenario a lot already has to be done. For enlarging the willingness to buy/purchase Moringa, a lot of marketing and education has to be done. So this is a thing that has to be executed during the project. There isn’t enough capacity at KITA at the moment because of an inefficient production process. Therefore, a business plan concerning the enlargement of this capacity should be written. This business plan has to describe the financial aspects concerning a milling machine, the best design of the milling machine, possible suppliers for a milling machine, how to maintain the milling machine, how the drying phase should be arranged and the design of a solar dryer.

How likely is this scenario?

This scenario has a medium probability. The way to convince farmers to produce Moringa, is by letting them see an example farm with a milling and packaging centre. Without a milling machine and a good functioning solar dryer, nothing can be promised to them concerning a fixed income, because then everything is very insecure. This makes it hard to convince the farmers. Without these farmers, there is no Moringa supply, which isn’t a good base to convince the schools and hospitals either of using Mor Nutro Powder in their meals. Herefore, without an example farm and functioning milling and packaging centre, the chance of cooperation of farmers and the target group is not that big.

The chance of this scenario is 25%

2. Sustainable Mor Nutro business

In this scenario, the milling and packaging centre can be established, there has been created a well functioning solar dryer and the farmers are willing to plant and provide Moringa and the target group is willing to use it for their meals.

What can be done in this scenario?

There are very few barriers in creating a sustainable Mor Nutro Powder business in this scenario. This means, that during the internship all objectives can/ have to be reached by the described approach.

How likely is this scenario?

Right now it is not clear how big a chance we have in being able to purchase a new milling machine and build the milling and packaging centre. Until we are in Ghana and find out what possibilities there are for hiring people and what the experience of Nyikiba and Charlotte is, we can online make a rough estimation. The estimation of this scenario now is put on 15%.

3. Challenge

In this scenario the production process of the Mor nutro Powder at KITA is very inefficient. Due to this problem, farmers and the target group cannot be convinced of the abilities that KITA has and are not willing to establish a partnership.

What can be done in this scenario?

In this scenario a lot can be done on a research base. There can be made a business plan concerning the milling and packaging centre, and specifically about the purchase of the milling machine. Moreover, schools and hospitals can be approached for education. This is useful for when the production process at KITA does improve; this way schools and hospitals are already familiar with Mor Nutro Powder and have been educated about the important of a well balanced diet.

How likely is this scenario?

At this moment, we do not have enough information about the financial possibilities of KITA, but we ought this scenario to be pretty likely. This, because this is the same situation the students from last year have been in. We would like to put more focus on the business plan and the example farm at KITA when this happens than the students have done last year.

The possibility of the scenario is put on 30%

4. Future Business

In this scenario there is a lot of effort put in the creation of a milling and packaging centre and a solar dryer, but there is no time left to convince farmers and the target group. There isn’t a Mor Nutro Powder business yet, because there are not enough farmers willing to produce Moringa and there are not enough clients in the form of schools and hospitals. On the other hand, this is something people from KITA themselves can do. This, because now they have a milling machine, al the possibilities for creating a sustainable Moringa business are there. When they see this, and they are motivated, they can also approach the schools and hospitals after the internship. With this scenario, there are a lot of opportunities to start the business.

What can be done in this scenario?

In this scenario, both milling & packaging centre and the solar dryer will be established. There has to be done a lot of research; about a good milling machine, the solar dryer and the continuation of the project for when we leave. When these aspects have been arranged, there has to be a very good business plan. This way, the business can be assigned to a new group of people when we leave, and somebody feels responsible for the maintenance, the way the machine is being used and the whole moringa business. There has to be enough and good educative material for the schools and hospitals, and the training for the farmers has to be improved.

How likely is this scenario?

This scenario is pretty likely. We do not have a lot of time during the internship, so the change that we have to chose between the educational and the trade part of the project is possible. Because Samuel has addressed that the focus of the project lies at the trade part, when we do have to chose we would chose for this part of the project to put some extra effort in. The possibility of this scenario therefore is put on 30%
Finance

An estimate of the financial situation and the costs has been made. As you can see from the overview a total of €1871,- euro is said to be needed in material and installation costs for the implementation of the current project plan of which KITA is only able to provide for €559,5- and has asked us to raise funds for the remaining €1000,-.This estimate also included a contribution from the TU Delft students of 50 euro per student per month, but as we have learned over the course of the minor it is never intended that students pay for project costs out of their own pocket. Therefore the original €300 that would have been provided by the students is now part of the amount left for possible funding which then amounts to €1300, -.

For the purpose of fundraising we started a campaign in which people could send in text we will print on shirts we will wear during the internship phase of the project. Their submissions are going to be printed by one of our sponsors print & stitch for a donation of minimally €10, -.

Additionally we have applied for funding at STUD and Students4Sustainability both of which are still pending as of now.

Seen in the next chart is the balance of the different aspects of the material costs mentioned in the overview on the previous page. This shows that the grinding equipment for the milling and packaging center is the biggest item of expense in the whole operation. As this really is an investment for the future sustainability of KITA’s moringa business we do advise them to make this investment and will try to help them where we can in finding funds to do so.
Continuation of the project

How will the project continue after the TU Delft students leave in January? The transfer of knowledge and responsibility is an important aspect of the project in order to make the business sustainable. In this chapter will be described how this can be reached.

Knowledge Transfer

To make sure that the observations and experiences of this year will be used in the learning process so that the same mistakes will not be made twice, we will deliver a business plan where all information about our practices and how to continue best will be written.

Continuation of practices

When we will leave Kumasi and stop participating in this project, it is important somebody gets the responsibility of continuing the practices. Charlotte and Gideon do this project as a graduation project, and they will be finished when we leave. This means that there have to be new students assigned to the project in order to keep it actual and up to date. A way this can be accomplished is by making the project part of graduating every year and this way assigning a few students on it. When the business will grow, more students can be part of the project for their graduation. This way, after a while the project can be executed without intervention from third parties.

When the Mor Nutro Powder business has fully been established, it will not be enough to only have graduation students on the project. Because it is a profitable business, it is possible that some one will be hired to overlook al the processes of the business and maintains the contacts between farmers, KITA and consumers.

The Mor Nutro Powder business will be a profiting activity of the Institute of Tropical Agriculture. Besides, there already have been done investments in the business. These two aspects enlarge the chance that the businesses will continue; also after the TU Delft students have left, because the sense of ownership lies at KITA.